good morning, everyone. it's 7:00 on the east, 4:00 a.m. out west. here is what's happening now. it's 2017 in parts of the world. in new york city, heightened security. the latest concerns at some of the biggest celebrations in the u.s. at odds, dispute between the u.s. and russia escalates. new reaction to donald trump weighing in on the diplomatic standoff. other big international flare-up, the u.s. and israel. what are prospects for a two-state solution? digging out. up to two feet of snow. what does the new year hold across the u.s.? the forecast next. happening now, it's already

2017 in parts of the world. this is what it looked like in new zealand an hour ago. thousands celebrating the new year with lots of fireworks. in an hour, australia starts celebrating with similar displays. of course, the most famous celebration gets under way in new york's times scare tonight. security is tight. we will have more on the security at the bottom of the hour. happening, new reports of a russian hack targeting a u.s. utility showing potential risk to the electrical grid. according to the washington post, a code associated with a russian hacking campaign was found at a vermont electric company. it's unclear the intention and when it was entered into the computer. they sited an official among its sources who say the actively us disrupt utility operations.

lucy, has there been any reaction from russia on this? >> reporter: no reaction specifically to this allegation of the vermont hack. it's the new year's holiday here. a huge celebration. i want to add some caution. this appears to be an isolated laptop, not a hack of the entire u.s. power system, per se. i want to read a statement issued by the burlington electric department. they said that they -- i quote here -- that's what they are saying. no reaction from russia so far about that. a lot of reaction though, of course, to this spat between russia and the u.s. it has been interesting to watch the evolution of russia's response which went from name calling and finger pointing two days ago, with the russian embassy trolling obama on

twitter, tweeting a photograph of a lame duck. the russian foreign ministry spokeswoman calling the obama administration a bunch of foreign policy losers. to then the shift in tone once president putin weighed in declining to retaliate, making himself appear at least here in russia as if he is somehow taking the high road, taunting them washington by personally extenning an invitation to the children of american diplomats to come join the holiday celebrations portraying himself in the media here as someone who is above the fray, he is not stooping to this retaliatory action. he is doing two things here. number one, he is winning the news cycle, at least domestically. he is seen as a strong leader who is not stooping to this back and forth here in russia, certainly not abroad. the other thing he is avoiding antagonizing the incoming administration, which is important. clearly, the kremlin experts a friendlier russia policy from the president-elect. putin was rewarded with that very complimentary tweet by

donald trump yesterday calling putin a smart man. it could backfire. i want to play a quick sound bite of one of the analysts we have spoken to here yesterday. take a listen. >> donald trump doesn't owe putin anything. now he is going to be donald trump -- the donald trump we know in charge of the united states and the u.s. military, which putin himself has acknowledged is way bigger. those two guys now are the two heads of the two largest arsenals. unpredictable russian president who has made his game by acting in places where you don't expect him to forcefully when you don't expect him to. and the businessman who has done that to make his career. >> reporter: that was david phi phillipe making the point they are both unpredictable. things could happen that aren't beneficial to russia's interests. he made another good point off camera.

he said that, putin has one aircraft carrier. when he made that surprise move, moving it into the mediterranean? donald trump once he is president is going to have access to 11 of them. they are huge. a lot of unpredictability at play here. >> it's been a week dealing with this russian spat over the election hacking. the question is, we know what the government has reacted. how has the ground reaction been? what are the people saying about this. >> reporter: a lot of the people get their information from the media here. the folks that we have spoken to -- our producer hit the street yesterday -- a lot say they are looking forward to january 20th when donald trump becomes president. they expect a friendlier russia policy. they feel like the americans are in their view unfairly hitting out assia, unfairly targeting russia. they don't believe in these hacking allegations. so they're looking forward to a friendlier page from donald trump. those are the ones who are paying attention. obviously, there's a lot of

domestic issues, a lot of folks focusing more on the new year's celebration and the tanking economy than what's happening over across the ocean in america. >> thank you so much for that report. "the washington post" report on the vermont utility compa came hours after the president-elect praised vladimir putin for his decision to not retaliate. in a tweet trump said -- nbc confirmed the husband of trump's top adviser kellyanne conway is on the short list to serve as slit tore general. new reaction from a former member of the mormon tabernacle choir on why she resigned in protest. here is what she told my colleague yesterday. >> there are a number of people

that feel that going out to sing for this particular candidate expresses conflicted message that might undermine the beautiful messagehat choir has worked so hard to cultivate with so many people. it's not just america's choir. it's the world's choir. for me this is a moral issue, i'm concerned about our freedoms being in danger as time goes by. >> joining me now, jonathan allen, columnist for roll call, and jane tim. great to have you here this morning. >> good morning. >> jonathan, let's start with you. what is conventional wisdom on the u.s. tossing out russian diplomats? is there any clear strategy even though there's 20 days left in the administration? >> you have the above the water line and below the water line. what i mean by that is, we're tossing out the diplomats. that's a clear retaliation for the russians interfering in our

election. president obama says there are things we are not going to see. it's hard to judge without knowing what that totality is. still, it's -- nothing that he does is going to be retaliation that feels equal to tampering in an election. >> what do you think? do you think there's a sense this is pure punish money for the hack allegations? >> it appears there's a desire to show there's a response here, to just let it go when it's very clear a foreign government got involved in another government's democracy. there's a desire to just make a stand, especially when you have the incoming president-elect be so favorable to a government that has not always been our greatest ally. it's important i think for the president to have an outgoing message of we stand opposed to this kind of meddling. it's not always -- for president-elect, he sees there's -- russia interfered with his political opponent. the president is saying, no, this is interfering with our

country, with our democracy, not our political opponents. >> jane, donald trump's tweet praising putin, is this calculated strategy do you think? what do you think his goal is? >> for the president-elect, he made it clear he wants to have a friendlier relationship with russia. if they are into our electrical system as "the washington post" is reporting, if they are working on fishing identities of parts of our government that control things that are related to our electricity system, our emergency response depends on that. that's going to be really important. i think that's going to look different to the president-elect when he is sitting in the oval office and hearing those reports directly. the question is, does he continue to try and have a great relationship with putin when he sees those reports coming in and he is in charge in. >> jonathan, it's been a hard week to gauge this. trump has said the obama white house has been laying down obstacles to s to the transitio. on the other hand, he said his relationship with the president is a good one. what should we believe here?

>> i think we should believe that there's a lot of tension between the outgoing president and the incoming president. obama still has a few weeks left in his presidency. donald trump is conducting foreign policy, or appears to be from trump tower. it's a bad situation for the u.s. look, i think it's troubling to obama to watch what's going on, particularly with russia. donald trump generuflecting is interesting strategy. it's important to remember that putin is a despot. it would be good to have a better relationship with russia, but we don't live in a vacuum. putin has done things that should be worrisome to everybody. >> are there any other items on president obama's agenda that may be coming down the pike that could be at odds with what the trump administration expects? >> it will be interesting to see what he does with pardons. he pardoned so many people of

late. donald trump has come in on this law and order mantra, this back to nixon and several decades ago. i'm curious to see if there are interesting pardons perhaps for some of the people involved in the clinton e-mail affair. >> there's a political report suggesting hundreds of tickets sold to new year's eve part with trump. what do we know about that? >> we don't know exactly where those tickets are going and where that money might be going and how that is working. it's just another thing that is distracting from the president-elect's agenda. this is not exactly what an incoming president wants to have on the headlines. he wants his agenda, his priorities. trump clearly has not had control of the media cycle. >> let's talk about this and his agenda. do you expect them to hit the ground running on day one? can we predict stumbles? >> they want to.

they have put an ambitious agenda for the first 100 days. i can't count the number of times that donald trump said on the campaign trail, i will do that in my first hour. i don't think he has enough hours in his first day to do the things he has said he will do in his first hour in office. but trump administration has shown some problems with how government works. they seem -- he seems a little bit unsure exactly how to get this off the ground. i think we're likely to see him maybe to have a couple of weeks, a couple of months getting used to this new office. he has never been in government before. that's going to be a big learning curve. >> jane, tim, always great to have you. thanks for being here. >> happy new year. >> you too. this morning, millions of people from connecticut to maine are feeling the affects of a massive nor'easter. it dropped more than two feet of snow over past few days. joining me now, bonnie schneider. >> the nor'easter is gone.

what we are looking at is a flood threat on new year's eve to new year's day for new orleans, lafayette, through southern mississippi and alabama. we will see rain starting tonight and that will go through tuesday where we could see accumulations of three to five areas. for that reason, we have a flash flood watch that will go into affect tonight. likely extend through monday morning in many of the locations. another part of the country, the southwest, we're getting ready for some wet weather coming through. we will see rain across southern california and into arizona by sunday, new year's day. here is low pressure coming onshore. it will bring rain. we had that yesterday in los angeles. more of it as we go through the weekend with a cold storm, the chance of thunderstorms as well. you may hear the rumble of thunder. that's going to work into southern arizona and we will look for main and mountain snow in arizona and wet weather into tucson as well. phoenix and tucson, you wl s a little soggy start to the year. mountain snow, this is interesting because a lot of people are traveling from a nice

long winter break. the mountain snow will be treacherous. tough to travel. we could see up to a foot. by contrast, the weather looks terrific for the rose parade in pasadena. 44 degrees, partly cloudy skies, really comfortable and sunny. what about times square? we were concerned there might be snow showers in the forecast. that's not the case. it looks like all those people heading to times square, the temperature will be 41 degrees. that sounds good. it could be worse. a lot colder. luckily, we won't have that. we're watching for the wet weather into southern california and into phoenix through monday. the southern tier of the country is getting kind of a wet start to 2017. >> okay. bundle up and stay dry. thanks so much. the white house strategy on israel, what did john kerry's speech accomplish? why now and does it matter when the trump administration takes over?

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we did not take this decision lightly. the obama administration has always defended israel. but we cannot in good conscience do nothing and say nothing when we see the hope of peace slipping away. this is a time to stand up for what is right. >> that was secretary john kerry wednesday on the u.s. abstention from the u.n. security council vote condemning israeli settlements. that decision in opposition to trump's call for the u.s. to veto the resolution. let's bring in steve clemmons. great to have you this morning. >> good morning. >> were you surprised by the tone of secretary kerry's speech? >> no. i happened to have a number of occasions to sit down with secretary kerry and talk to him about his feelings regarding the

peace process and his frustration with it. he has been carrying this speech with in his mind for the last few years. this was an important pungsation point for him. it was not a new thing. i think he has been working behind the scenes for a long time trying to get a big spotlight on what was going on in israel and palestine. this was his last opportunity to do it. >> a new op-ed recounts a number of international conflicts that took place. including syria, libya and iran. it points out this end of term emphasis on the israel-palestinian conflict. big picture, is this what president obama and john kerry should be focusing on right now? >> i think they have been trying to focus on the entire picture of this. i think in part what happened with the process is reminding the world -- i think many arab leaders have said this. there's been outstanding arab applause for john kerry's speech throughout the region from countries that have been nonetheless supportive of israel

like the uae, saudi arabia has been kind of aligned with israel's interests on iran. all of them applauded john kerry's speech. what they are trying to remind the world is that the problem is not a boutique problem that's siloed off from the rest of the issues in the region. it matters to all sides. i think when donald trump sits behind the desk, he will see that there are other parties to this conflict than just israel. that have to be weighed and considered. i think this is part of the portfolio of questions. it's frustrating for president obama because he started two years of his administration almost focused on trying to solve this problem and got nowhere. this is a checking off the box, a recognition that they weren't able to solve this problem. but it was something they invested a lot of resources in early in the obama administration. >> steve, over the past aieight years, how many times have they sat down to discuss peace negotiations? >> during the first couple of years when you had -- netanyahu

was sworn in and came into office for his second term about six weeks after president obama was sworn in. there were a couple of years -- three u.n. general assembly speeches by president obama, huge sections dealt with israel-palestinian issues. we had george mitchell and dennis ross assigned to play sherpas in the process of trying to get both sides to talk to one another. there was a meltdown. what john kerry was saying was that there has been a lot of dereliction of responsibility in tending this relationship that the iaelis are the superpower inhe region, our closest ally and friend in the region. but they are engaged in a course that we feel that the united states feels under this government that they are creating conditions that won't allow the palestinians to eventually have a sovereign state. that creates dynamics that risk american security down the road and risk security and stability in the region. when you look at that package of things, i think it's basically a

warning, red flag, for the next administration that comes in. i think it's for donald trump and his team to look at it and look at the complexities and realize, it's not easily solved but neither is it easily ignored. that was the reason john kerry gave this speech. >> let's look at the warnings and risks that you speak of. the spokesperson for theresa may issued a statement thursday criticizing secretary kerry's focus on israeli settlements saying -- how unusual is this reaction from the uk? >> it's not so unusual. prime minister may, i think, is trying to take a swipe at the obama administration and john kerry in this case and a way to distance herself from any

connection to the obama team and position herself politically in a better place with the trump team. i don't think it necessarily has anything to do with israel and palestine. the uk supported the u.n. vote. they voted in favor of the u.n. resolution. that resolution language was far harsher than anything in john kerry's speech. if you goow through john kerry's speech, which i read every word of and listened to every word, he went into detail beyond the settlement and not only provided a potential way to get back on track but looked at resolution of other issues. all of the issues were on the table in john kerry's speech. theresa may's predecessor was for many years the head of the group for middle east piece. the notion that talking about settlements has disrupted the peace process isn't -- i think it isn't a genuine critique.

she's trying to position her as a potential good partner with donald trump and does not want to have anything sticking to her from what the obama team has done. >> this conversation will certainly continue. steve, thank you so much for your time. >> happy new year. new this morning, a rescue operation that took hours. see where it happened up next. my business was built with passion... but i keep it growing by making every dollar count.

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welcome back. i'm dara brown in new york. at the half hour, here is what we're monitoring. nearly two dozen people are back on the ground after being stuck for eight hours 120 feet in the

air. late friday afternoon, the sky cabin ride near los angeles broke down. firefighters tried to raise ladders. eventually workers used a safety harness to bring passengers down one by one. the ride will remain closed until the park does a complete investigation. happening now, "the washington post" is reporting another russian hack targeting the u.s. this time within the system of an electric vermont utility. the report comes days after the obama administration levelled new sanctions against russia over its alleged cyber meddling in u.s. elections. od morning. has there been any reaction from the administration? >> reporter: not yet. but in that suite of sanctions the president announced thursday, he included almost protective measures that he wanted key u.s. institutions to take. as a result of that, a vermont utility realized it may have been comomised.

russian hackers may have been probing for weakness in a vermont utility, according to an explosive report in "the washington post." once alerted to the potential n infiltrati infiltration, they scanned their system for the code. there was an infection but only on a single department laptop. the company saying, we took immediate action to isolate the laptop and alerted federal officials of this finding. >> send a clear message to russia. >> reporter: coming days after president obama announced sanctions against top russian intelligence officials for alleged cyber interfere ence wi the u.s. presidential election. as part of the u.s. response, the dealt of homeland security and the fbi shared information about the malware and its signature, part of a report that accused russian groups of being part of an ongoing campaign of cyber-enabled operations directed at the u.s. government and its citizens.

burlington electric said operators of utilities were alerted by the department of homeland security on thursday night of a possible code associated with the russian hacker operation dubbed grizzly step. according to the washington post which first reported the story, the russians, quote, did not actively use the code to disrupt operations at the new england utility. citing anonymous sources, it raises fears that russian government hackers are actively trying to trate the grid to carry out potential attacks. with winter weather over much of the northeast, residents hardly need a reminder of the importance of their power system. last night, the governor of vermont issued a statement saying they are making sure key infrastruck stcture is protecte. >> thanks.

let's go now to west palm beach, florida, where kelly o'donnell is at the president-elect's estate. kelly, what is the latest from the trump camp on this tension with russia? >> reporter: good morning. we're a couple of miles from the trump residence here in florida. what we know is they will have what many americans will have, which is a new year's eve party. it's an annual bash. there will be dancing, celebrities. all of that against a backdrop that hans was talking about with the new tense relationship with russia. one big question is where does donald trump stand? as obama and putin face off in a high stakes chess match, donald trump tweeted his way in between them friday praise ing the russn president after he held back and decided not to expel american diplomats as expected by other top russian officials. trump wrote --

trump flattery followed a spy novel-type drama where 35 russian diplomats were ordered out of the u.s. by president obama. part of the punishment for russian hacking. >> the obama administration is expelling these diplomats because of things that the russian government did. >> reporter: at consulates in san francisco and washington, d.c., russian staffers scrambled to get out quickly. the state department also took control of sprawling compounds in maryland and long island, new york, that many neighbors had not known were russian hideaways for diplomatic families, recreation and secure meetings. >> there's always been a bit of mystery surrounding the property. >> reporter: the president-elect has not said if he intends to keep or reverse the obama sanctions against russia. earlier this week, trump said he and president obama continue to speak about the transition. >> i did. i did. he phoned me. we had a very nice conversation.

>> reporter: trump's team is buying time to weigh options by saying the president-elect needs more information on russia's hacking, expected in a high level intelligence briefing tuesday. a typical intelligence briefing for the president-elect would be professional staffers from the intelligence community. but sources tell me this will go to a higher level where we may see the actual chiefs of the intelligence groups who would come and meet with donald trump to bring him up to date on latest with the russian hacking. that would be different. it's also where sources are telling us to draw our attention, that maybe after that point, donald trump would have something more to say about russia. but they're not guaranteeing that either as we have seen, he has shown some friendship toward russia. he knows he is talking with obama who has a different view. >> kelly o'donnell reporting from west palm beach. now to security in new

york's time s square and around the world. here is how law enforcement is preparing. >> reporter: a record 7,000 uniform and undercover police will be on the streets, including hundreds of heavily armed counterterrorism officers. this year, law enforcement is bringing in sand trucks and other vehicles to block off streets. in cities across the country, it's a similar sight. fences and concrete barricades in boston and chicago. >> it's sad that we have to do this type of stuff. but it's a reality of what's happening now in the world. >> joining me now, former new york state homeland security adviser. it's great to have you here. the police are sealing off times square with 65 garbage trucks and 100 patrol cars. investigators have visited over 3100 car and truck rental businesses advising owners to look out for suspicious

behavior, because of the truck attacks this year in nice and berlin. are they doing the right things? >> any type of event you have whether it's a new year's celebration or it's a presidential debate, it's inauguration, it's about control, it's about intelligence, it's about deterrents, it's about knowing who is in the space. what a lot of people don't appreciate is the amount of technical assistance that all of the security departments have in terms of cameras. but also in terms of the old-fashion type of security, the undercover. knowing that you can control the different space, prevent vehicles from getting inside, what you are doing is taking threats off the table that you can identify as much as possible. yes, nice and the german christmas market attack have certainly focused on a truck-based attack. that doesn't mean you don't take into account a lone shooter, a device -- explosive device or any other threat that might be out there. you always have to keep changing

your security posture. but it's all about controlling the space. >> michael, new york law enforcement officials say there's been little so-called terrorism chatter. have would-be terrorists figured out a way to leave no evidence of a potential attack in. >> that's a great point. if you look at the four latest domestic incidents in the united states, the boston marathon bombing, san bernardino attack, the orlando shooting and, of course, what happened in new york city, the chelsea bombings, there was no indication prior to the actual attack that something was going on. these folks are not on the net talking about it. we always go back to the days before 9/11 where there was an increase in chatter. that has gone away. yes, the internet provides tremendous amount of information. but there's things known as the dark web or ways in which you can communicate in a very encrypted format which takes away the ability to really kind of say, something is happening, pay attention now.

what we really need to respond to is, what is happening on the street? what is happening on the ground? which is why it is so essential to work with local law enforcement who know best of what's happening within their communities. >> michael, if terrorists know that new year's eve is the time of heightened security, wouldn't other times concern you more? any act of terror will be high profile. why new year's eve? >> first of all, as you know, terrorists don't give notice that they're coming. and they don't attack when everybody is watching. this year is a very dynamic -- with the security officials are referring to as a dynamic threat environment. you have a new president going to come into office pretty soon. you have the tensions between russia and the united states. you have obviously what's been going on in the middle east. when you have isis losing ground, the concern, of course, is that they're going to transfer some of the their

resources and intent and try to inspire folks within operating theaters like europe and the united states to carry out their own attacks. the challenge there, of course, is that they don't necessarily have to go after the thing everybody is watching like times square. they could do -- there are other ways to send a message or wait until after this particular date. now take an attack, make an attack happen when nobody is watching. >> michael, thank you so much for your insight. we hope everyone has a safe new year's celebration. thank you. the transition from president obama to donald trump turning tense. what's behind some of the president's power moves? that's up next. in our next hour, inside the russian compounds shut down by u.s. authorities. how they stood in plain sight for decades.

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i've never seen a president try to create more problems for a future president.

he completely double crosses one of our biggest allies and now after 18 months of this hacking, he does something about it. why didn't he do something about it 18 months ago? it wouldn't have happened. >> that's long time trump ally and former new york city mayor rudy giuliani weighing in on president obama's foreign policy moves. let's bring in former campaign manager for carly fiorina and joe watkins, former white house aide and rick tyler. thank you all for being here this morning. >> good to be here. >> let's start with you, rick. you heard giuliani speaking. do you agree? is president obama trying to throw up roadblocks for trump here? is this just hyperbole? >> it seems curious that obama has not acted tough anywhere from red lines in syria to the russians and now all of a sudden he has a political adversary and a democratic party that wants to

undermine trump's legitimacy. he is lending credence to that. >> trump walks into the white house january 20. president obama has ordered new sanctions. how is this going to play out? does trump have room to undo them or change them? >> there's always the possibility that donald trump could undo it or change it. vladimir putin has said he wants to wait to see how the trump team handles their relationship once they take office on january 20th. it's a wait and see. but it does make it a little tricky for donald trump starting as president-elect. this is unprecedented in recent american transition history. >> unprecedented and tricky. that's interesting. in the washington post, they write republicans are put in a difficult position now of, quote, investigating very serious allegations against a foreign power and undermining the legitimatesy of their press. how are you expected to handle

this? >> well, first of all, we know this is about obama's legacy. he was expecting hillary clinton to take her inaugural address next month. they are scrambling to figure out how to protect what's left of the obama legacy. what they're trying to do is throw dirt in the eyes of the transition team while they're trying to assemble a government. if you are a republican in congress, we don't want anyone missing with our elections. we do believe that the russians were hacking these institutions. this idea that they hacked the election is yet to be proven. i think republicans in congress have some room to look into this. but as the president has asked everyone to move on, you know, that he will take care of the russians and this past offense, but obviously, obama didn't think it was important for 18 months. this is clearly a political maneuver. it's about protecting his legacy. if he can get the republicans to concentrate on russia, they won't notice obamacare is in place. >> vladimir putin said he won't force out u.s. diplomats in

russia in retaliation for obama's actions. this is a move that trump praised in a tweet late yesterday. rick, w big of a deal is this for an incoming president to so publically profess admiration for a russian leader? is this tampering with the current administration? >> it remains to be seen. i'm sure donald trump and probably vladimir putin want to rebegin negotiations with each other. what's interesting though -- i will concede here that we should have one president at a time. donald trump has been very vocal during this transition. but note that during this transition, you had two nations, one our most important ally in the middle east, israel, and the other our most important -- one of our most important rival enemies, russia, both slamming the door on obama -- the obama administration during this transition and pointedly

welcoming the trulmp administration. that's remarkable. >> i want to ask you this, because just like rick said, there's one president at a time. how much is this muddying this transition? seriously, january 20th, everything is going to change. joe, what's your take? >> well, of course it makes it a little bit tense. things are tense right now between the outgoing obama administration and the incoming trump administration. in a perfect world, there would be no great decisions, no big policy decisions coming forth in the last month or so of a president's -- an outgoing president's term of office. that hasn't been the case. he made two very, very big decisions. certainly the one regarding israel and the resolution on israel bit security council. and then this second decision, of course, with regards to throwing out 35 russian diplomats. it's very tense right now. it's only going to last another few weeks. then there will be a new administration. >> nothing has been predictable so far.

what's your take on that? >> well, totally agree. the obama administration foreign policy has been a disaster from the start. there's no reason it wouldn't be in the last few weeks either. what i do think thoughthink, th misunderstanding what the one president at a time means. that means that donald trump shouldn't be calling up people and telling them one thing while barack obama tells them something else. that's not happening. what the president-elect is doing is giving his opinion of what is going on. that's no different than a campaign and no different from what barack obama did during his campaign as well. once the president-elect is in office, i think it will be a great relief to our i'llallies adversaries to have america back in a strength and leadership role and why that's we're see netanyahu acting the way he is and putin as well. >> sarah, rick, joe, stick around. we'll be back. predictions in 2017. what is the most outrageous political event you expect to

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on friday against a backdrop of heightened tensions with russia, u.s. congressional delegation travelled to ukraine where john mccain made his case for responding to russia's interference. >> when you attack a country, it is an act of war. and so we haveo make sure that there is a pri to pay so that we can perhaps persuade the russians to stop this kind of attacks on our very fundamentals of democracy. >> mccain has scheduled a senate hearing on cyberthreats for early next week. and let's bring back our political panel. i would like to start with you. is this an act of war or mccain and his colleagues just overreacting? >> well, i think it is somewhere in between. it is why everyone had a little bit of a difficult time reacting to this. cybersecurity is extraordinarily important to our national security, but it is not the same as an act of war exactly.

and so we got to figure out exactly what they did, what their intentions were, which is much trickier and react accordingly. the last minute maneuvers by the obama administration probably though aren't helpful. they don't look particularly thought out. so i think that senator mccain and others in congress will have more time to look into this and come up with an appropriate response, both looking backwards at what happened and also looking forwards at had how to prevent this in the future. >> joe, you worked in the white house at the tail end of the cold war. how unusual is this kind of threat? is this getting more attention now because of the political environment? >> the world is changing. it is different than the world i lived in when i worked at the white house. what we have to be concerned about cyberwarfare, cyberattacks, terror, these are all things now that dominate the news and that americans and people around the world have to be concerned with. so i think that senator mccain is wise to have a hearing on it to really get to the bottom of what has been happening. i think its helpful to the american people in the

long-term. >> since it is new year's eve day, let's look at the year ahead. what do you see happening in trump's first 100 days? >> i think a flurry of activity. i think a supreme court nominee fight, i think a lot of fights mostly over tillerson is my guess in the congress over nominations for -- and he will be the secretary of state. and you're going to get obamacare will be rescinded through reconciliation, there is going to be a lot of different changes in economic policy and they're all going to do this because they believe the democrats are too disorganized right now and don't have a coherent strategy or message to counter it. >> sarah, real quick, from you as well. >> well, i think the first 100 days, i think rick is exactly right. we said over and over again during this campaign season everything donald trump has been unprecedented. i think the first 100 days will be too. he ran on changing washington and draining the swamp. i think you're going to see a

lot of that. he started with the lobbyist ban during the transition. i think you'll see more of it. i think the supreme court pick is where to look. that will be the first big fight of the trump administration. and it will unite conservatives and republicans across the board to fill justice scscalia's seat with another conservative on the court. >> thanks so much for your time. have a happy new year. >> happy new year. that will do it for me this hour. i'm daraa brown. betty nguyen takes over. while some parts of the world are already ringing in the new year, some other cities are preparing. law enforcement strategies to keep people safe and we'll look at sydney harbor where australians are getting ready to ring in the new year in just moments.

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